Short Co77imunicaiions. 511 



smaller or inner pot {a) will absorb moisture sufficient for 

 the nourishment of the plant, provided the material of the 

 pot be not too hard burnt ; the water between the pots can 

 at any time be emptied out, and the outer pot will then act as 

 a shade for the roots of the plant in hot dry weather. 



In my humble opinion, if a cheap and simple method 

 could be found for shading pots exposed to the sun, we 

 should not have so many sickly scorched-looking plants in 

 the summer season. I am not aware of any pots having 

 been made on the above principle. — Thos. Blair. Stamford 

 Hill, June 22. 1833. 



This mode of equalising the moisture and temperature of 

 the exterior side of pots is, as far as our experience goes, 

 quite new ; and, certainly, it appears well adapted either for 

 growing marsh plants, by filling the interstices between the 

 pots with water ; or delicate plants easily killed either by too 

 much water or by neglect of water, such as Cape heaths, by 

 using moist moss instead of water. Many persons find it 

 very difficult to keep heaths in warm rooms, even during the 

 short time they are in bloom, without either over-watering 

 them, or keeping them too dry ; Mr. Blair's pot, either with 

 water or moss, would be an effectual remedy. — Cond. 



A mode of supplying plants growing in the open soil with 

 water, during dry intervals of summer, practised by the Rev. 

 Geo. Reading Leathes, of Shropham, Norfolk, deserves to be 

 made known ; and may, although it has nought of parallelism 

 or likeness to Mr. Blair's, farther than its relation to supplying 

 water, be described here. Soil dried to dustiness resists water ; 

 and not every assistant whom one may request to water the 

 plants, which may be languishing in the garden, will take the 

 patient and honest pains to give them the thorough soaking 

 they require. When the soil about a plant or plants is dried 

 to dustiness, the moistening it by watering requires that water 

 be applied in a small quantity at a time, and repeatedly. The 

 doing this occupies much time; yet you must either do this, 

 or open with the spade, at the foot of the plant, a hole that 

 will receive at once a larger supply of water ; and this latter 

 mode has the effect of leaving the gully hole, as it may be 

 termed, and the earth which had been taken out of it, exposed 

 to view ; an offensive sight to those who have a passion for 

 evenness of surface in the soil of their gardens. Mr. Leathes 

 practises neither of these modes ; but, as an equivalent to 

 both, sinks into the soil, at the foot of the plant requiring 

 water, a flower-pot, immersed to the half or whole of its height 

 or depth, with its size proportioned to the quantity of water 

 Vol. IX. — No. 46. pp 



